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Back in March 2017, an Inrap team excavated, under State curation (Drac Occitanie), part of the history of the city of Uzès, from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. The archaeologists have uncovered large mosaics that are part of two Antique buildings. This excavation, conducted in advance of the construction of a boarding facility for the Gide and Guynemer high schools by the Occitanie region, documents the Roman city of Ucetia for the first time.

THE ROMAN CITY OF UCETIA

Today, this Roman city is known only through the toponym Ucetia included in a geographic inscription of Nîmes, as well as a few early discoveries of mosaic fragments. The current excavation of 4,000 m² has uncovered numerous remains dated from the Republican period (1st century BC) to the end of Antiquity (7th century), and more rarely to the Middle Ages.The archaeologists have recently uncovered a large wall and masoned structures dating to just before the Roman conquest. Some of the rooms contain remarkable constructions, such as one with the floor of a bread oven, later replaced with a dolium – an enormous ceramic recipient.

A FAWN, DUCK, OWL AND EAGLE

In another zone, the archaeologists have uncovered a large, 250 m² building opened to the south. Its colonnade suggests it was a public building.It is composed of four rooms in a row, two of which have cement floors and walls decorated with painted plaster. At one end of the building there is a room with a mortar floor incrusted with crosses made with tesserae (opus signinum). It opens into a large 60 m² room whose floor is decorated with a complex mosaic pavement. Two large mosaics are decorated with geometric motifs (posts–an ornamental motif composed of continuous winding lines–, meanders and swastikas) that frame two central medallions composed of crowns, rays and chevrons. One of the medallions is surrounded by polychrome animals, an owl, duck, eagle and fawn.This building stood until the end of the 1st century AD. Its spaces were partially restructured. The mosaics were no longer maintained and the destroyed mortar floor was replaced by a more rudimentary cement surface. In the adjacent street, the circulation level was raised.

C'est gratuit, aujourd'hui,' said the lady driver. 'Quoi?' 'The bus is free today,' she repeated, handing me a ticket. 'C'est la fête d'autobus.' My French is rusty so I couldn't quite believe my ears, but it was true. The day I arrived in Nîmes to catch the bus to Uzès happened to be la journée du transport public, and so no one had to pay. A busman's holiday - they really exist. While my bus was still winding its way out of Nîmes an inspector got on, kissed the driver on both cheeks by way of congratulations, and proceeded to check everyone's ticket. Why check tickets when you know everyone is riding for free? Bizarre.

I decided to walk from the bus station to my hotel, La Maison d'Uzès. I had little idea where it was, but I knew I had to cut across the old town diagonally, so I walked a short way around the outer boulevard and ducked through an archway which, I figured, must lead towards the centre ville. Bull's-eye. I emerged on to a broad square filled with plane trees and café tables and edged by a squat limestone colonnade. This was the Place aux Herbes, the beautiful heart of Uzès, and to come upon it in such a happy way was a perfect introduction. Every building in Uzès is made of the same pale and porous limestone. With its rough cuttlefish walls and creamy smooth pavements, it reminded me of Dubrovnik. And here, as in that white city, the whole of the old town is effectively a car-free zone. You walk everywhere because you have to, but it also happens to be so easy, and so enjoyable. And wherever you go in this pedestrian space, wherever you sit down for a coffee or a glass of rosé, you hear the lilting hom-di-hom of French conversation.

Uzès is in the middle of Le Gard, which is the south of France, but not the familiar Midi. 'People think of this part of the country as being all about sun and sea,' one Uzétien said to me. 'Here, inland and on the unfashionable side of the Rhône, there's something more authentic than you'll find on the coast. Uzès is a town where people live and work, where the market is for locals - not just for summer tourists.' Yet 50 years ago, the town was dying. All the old buildings were dilapidated and deserted, and no one wanted to live in them. Then the French government designated Uzès a historic town and a ville d'art, and invested money in its restoration. Once that process took hold, wealthy Americans and Australians began to buy homes here. Decent restaurants and hotels eventually followed, and now at last Uzès is a chic and upmarket spot. Brits, it seems, have yet to discover it. Although the Eurostar routes pass by less than an hour's drive away - at Avignon and Montpellier - that short journey has been enough to keep Uzès off our radar.

Uzes in the twentieth century

The end of the nineteenth century and the start of the twentieth century were marked by an ebullient character, the duchess of Uzes. Born in 1847, Anne de Mortemart was the great granddaughter of BarbeNicole, widow of Clicquot, a famous Champagne family. The duchess of Uzes was an early feminist who was the first French woman to obtain a driver's license, in 1898. She even founded the Women's automobile club. Very original indeed, the monarchist duchess lent financial support to general Boulanger, who attempted to overthrow the Republic, but at the same time she supported the works of Louise Michel, a left-wing personality, known as the Red Virgin. An enthusiastic hunter, fond of riding to hounds, she shot more than two thousand stags in her life.

The duchess' activism did not prevent the economic decline that affected Uzes from the start of the twentieth century. Harvests were poor and phylloxera annihilated about half of the vineyards. Silkworm breeding did not survive silkworm illnesses and fresh competition from Asian silk, after the opening of the Suez canal in 1869, as well as the launch of artificial fibres. Charities had to be opened.

At that stage, about three quarters of the city's inhabitants were catholics. At the end of the nineteenth century, mayor Leonce Pascal fought to restore the town hall and to repair the Fenestrelle tower. These works were picked up again in the 1920s. Local writers and members of the Paris intelligentsia attached to Uzes started researching the city's historical past and its heritage. The association Les Amis d'Uzes was established in Paris in 1927 to search for documents that would raise interest in Uzes among the general public. Andre Gide, a prominent member of this association, extensively wrote about the charm and the pleasant lifestyle of the town in Si le grain ne meurt (If It Die), published in 1926. Andre Gide was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 1947.

At the end of the second World War, in May 1945, Jeanne Palanque was proclaimed mayor, one of the first female mayors in France — as if to salute the commitment of the duchess a few decades earlier. Yet it was another personality issued from the duchy who marked Uzes in the twentieth century. In 1960, the city was neglected and unrecognised. The marchioness of Crussol of Uzes then approached Andre Malraux, culture minister, and Uzes was recognised as a city of arts and history. The town's heritage was restored and brought out, driving the renaissance of Uzes as one of the most beautiful historical sites of the Languedoc.

Return to prosperity in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

The region settled down again. As time went by, protestants again started holding assemblies, which were not only tolerated but also taxed. The town then enjoyed another period of prosperity. Textile mills multiplied and Uzes became famous for its silk stockings. The same period saw the spread of Uzes' wardrobes a simple but well-known piece of furniture, made of wood with refined decorations. In 1725, the duke and the bishop teamed up to embellish Uzes. The ditches behind the rampart were filled up, to make a promenade. Beautiful private mansions were built, with several windows on the front.

The dukedom took advantage of this good fortune. Duke Charles-Emmanuel (1739-1760) intensively corresponded with Voltaire. Upon his death, the dukedom was wealthier than ever. His son Francois-Emmanuel was one of the mightiest landlords in the kingdom, owning land in the Vivarais, Bourgogne, Quercy, Poitou, Saintonge and the Hotel d'Uzes in Paris.

From 1845 to 1848, a quiet period in French history, traditional life resumed in Uzes, based on agriculture and craftsmanship. Silkworm breeding, which was interrupted during the French revolution, became the source of considerable wealth for peasants until 1850. The number of mulberry trees quadrupled around Uzes. One of the most active mills belonged to Guillaume Teraube, who had about 125 workers in 1840.

The town then started to industrialise, particularly by the Alzon river. In 1854, Uzes boasted nearly thirty factories. In 1860, Henri Lafont established a liquorice factory which he entrusted to his son-in-law, Henri Abauzit. He registered the Zan brand name in 1884. Pottery also developed in Uzes from the 1820s. The town's pottery workshops produced refined and varied ceramic objects. Marbled ceramic appeared in 1835.

Throughout the nineteenth century, the town was embellished and cleaned up. The road to Nimes was built in 1821. In 1873, the cathedral was fitted with a new facade of neo-Romanesque style, because the original front was deemed too modest. The streets were equipped with gas lighting. A long-standing project to enlarge the Place aux Herbes was implemented in 1891.

In 1486, the House of Crussol, represented by Jacques, baron of Crussol, sealed an alliance with the House of Uzes. The latter's sole descendant was Simone, the only daughter of the viscount of Uzes and the last direct descendant of the first House of Uzes. The viscounty was elevated to the status of duchy in 1565 and of peerage in 1572, as ordered by Charles IX. From thereon in, the duke of Uzes had precedence over all the other noble houses of France in Parliament and at the King's coronation, hence the title of First peer of France. Uzes is the oldest remaining ducal peerage in France. Antoine, viscount of Uzes and baron of Crussol, became the first duke of Uzes.

Uzes, first duchy of France, from the Renaissance until the Reform

The Reform left a deep mark on Uzes. A crossing point, Uzes opened up to new religious thought from an early stage. The bishop Jean de Saint-Gelais even adhered to the thinking of the Reform from 1531. Louise de Clermont, wife of the first duke and governess of the young King Charles IX, kept company with Coligny and the huguenot chiefs, and she corresponded with Calvin. The first Reformed churches opened around this time, and Uzes became the fifth-largest huguenot city in France. A temple was built in 1567. But then, the region became engulfed in religious violence. In 1572, Galiot de Crussol was among the victims of the Saint-Barthelemy massacre, along with other noblemen from Uzes.

In 1573, Jacques de Crussol succeeded to Antoine. A protestant chief known under the name of The Steely Baron, Jacques converted to catholicism and crossed swords with the governor of the Languedoc, the duke of Montmorency-Damville, who protected the protestants. Churches were ransacked, fighting raged in Uzes and its suburbs were destroyed. The last ecclesiastics were driven out of the town.

In 1598, Henri IV promulgated the Edict of Nantes, which granted freedom of conscience and worship, authorised a protestant church organisation and granted about one hundred places of safety for protestants. Uzes was one of them. The consuls became "governors" of Uzes and set up a citizens' militia. Catholics returned to Uzes and mixed marriages were frequent. The bishop attempted to regain his privileges and some of the powers that had gone to the consuls.

Famous for its magnificent medieval heritage, its cathedral and its duchy, Uzes is a charming Mediterranean town — its narrow streets lined with mansions and its friendly squares bustling with markets and feasts. Jean Racine lived there, and Andre Gide, who was born in the region, appreciated its mellow lifestyle. As a bishopric from the fifth century; a viscounty and then a duchy in the sixteenth century; and as a town marked by Reform, Uzes boasts a rich history that may be discovered through its remarkably preserved monuments.

The birth of Ucetia

The oldest signs of a settlement near Uzes, about one hundred thousand years old, are to be found by the Alzon river, near the Eure spring. Between the fifth and second centuries B.C., a settlement was built on a high site. From the third century until the start of the second century B.C., the future city was populated by the Volcae Arecomici, who were familiar with writing and struck their own coins. All around the settlement, the landscape was transformed: the settlers planted vineyards and olive trees, villages sprouted up.

With the arrival of the Romans in 121 B.C., the region became part of the Transalpine and then the Narbonnaise province. An inscription found in Nimes near the Jardins de la Fontaine refers to Ucetiae. The town of Uzes first appears in the archives in the fourth century A.D. In the fifth century, it was known under the name of castrum Ucetiense. Although very little is known about the history of Uzes during Antiquity, it appears that the Romans used it as an administrative and cultural centre for the surrounding population. The Roman city was located in the same spot as the current historical centre. At the time, Uzes was already known as an important crossroads on the itinerary from Lyons to Nimes.

Well, not quite a forest – but almost. In this wood, one can find the fontaine (and the nearby large mas) de Castille. On the south-west limit of Uzès, near Blauzac. An unusual collection of large old oak trees. Along what looks like it was a chemin to the mas de Castille.

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